It’s no exaggeration to say that Bolton-born Kelly Michelle Walsh is a veritable ray of sunshine on a grey and grim wet day. But it’s not her cheerfulness in such grotty weather that impresses me, it’s her positivity in the wake of such a challenging past. Today, I am talking to her about co-authoring her first book, The Transformative Power of Near-Death Experiences, and what led to its inception.

After suffering childhood trauma, Walsh struggled with an eating disorder in her teens along with feelings of crippling inadequacy and low self-esteem. By her 20s, this had manifested itself in periods of severe fight-or-flight anxiety and depression.

“At times the mental anguish was so terrible I was unable sleep for weeks at a time which became sheer torture,” she says. “By age 33, I was unable to cope any longer. I took a huge overdose of paracetamol and waited to die.”

Remarkably, she did not admit herself to hospital until almost three days later where she says she’ll never forget the look of horror on the doctor’s face. “On arrival I was told it was too late to pump my stomach. Blood tests revealed I had in excess of 20,000 milligrams of paracetamol in my system – five times the recommended dose.”

Walsh continues: “I was admitted to an isolation ward and put on a drip in an attempt to flush out my system and minimize the damage to my internal organs.”

Having been a church-goer as a child, Walsh found herself in a heightened state of panic with tormenting thoughts of purgatory filling her mind. She asked to see the hospital minister who gave her a little wooden cross which she held onto for dear life.

“As night fell, waves of anxiety washed over me. I was pumping with sweat and clutched the cross tightly to my chest. Gradually, I became aware of beings standing around my bed who I sensed were trying to calm me. Suddenly, I experienced a powerful sensation of travelling at speed. It was like being on a fairground ride travelling at colossal speed while flashes of my life downloaded at supersonic speed.”

During her journey, Walsh describes feeling seven bumps which she believes were dimensions. Finally, the jolts stopped, and she felt a huge sense of euphoria and relief that she had survived her journey. She does not remember where she had arrived but explains a sense of absolute peace.

Her next recollection was of a disembodied voice saying, “you are strong, you are powerful – it is not your time. You still have a mission to carry out here on earth. Humans have the capacity to heal physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually through love.”

Walsh describes waking up in her hospital bed. “When I came round the following morning I was proclaiming that ‘like-minded souls will collaborate to change the world’.”

A couple of days later, Walsh was discharged from hospital, miraculously with a clean bill of health.

Despite undergoing such a life-changing event, back in the real world Walsh didn’t entirely understand her experience and, fearing ridicule, did not discuss what had happened to her for a long time. I ask what her views of near-death experience (NDE) had been before her episode and, surprisingly, she had never heard of the NDE phenomenon. She spent hours on the internet to even give a name to what she had experienced.

“During the next few years, it became increasingly difficult to ignore what had taken place and I felt an incredible drive to understand and share my experience with others. Eventually this lead me to the UK’s leading authority on NDE, Dr Penny Satori. Having made contact we clicked straightaway and, to my relief, Penny was able to help me completely understand what had happened to me.”

Over a year later they decided to co-author a book about Walsh’s NDE including fascinating accounts of many other people’s NDE’s around the world. This collaboration resulted in The Transformative Power of Near-Death Experiences, published earlier this month, has already become a bestseller in its genre.

Since it hit the shelves, Walsh has been on a public speaking tour to share her message and publicise the book. So far, she has told her story to audiences in Wales and Madrid with future engagements around the UK and eventually as far afield as the States. Response to her talks has been incredibly positive and she finds it very moving that her story seems to touch people so deeply.

There is no doubt that what happened to Walsh changed her life and gave her an entirely fresh perspective on human existence. She now has a strong belief in the unifying power of love which she hopes will ultimately breach all divides regardless of religion, sexuality, colour or creed. This will be reflected in her next writing project, The Power of Divine Love Series, which will be a collection of stories of other people’s positive life-changing spiritual experiences. You can submit your ‘power of divine love’ story on her website.

In the meantime, Walsh will carry on working with her Positivity Power Movement and the Love Care Share foundation, a charity she set up after her experience. Its aim is to make a positive difference in children’s lives. All the proceeds from The Transformative Power of Near-Death Experience go to this charity, and will be used to help children affected by poverty and suffering around the world.

Photo Gallery: Of Flesh and Stone at @HOME_mcr in Manchester highlights the relationship between the post-industrial landscape of North Wales and the urban rooftops of Manchester.
northernsoul.me.uk/photo-gall…